03/20, 3:15pm
New subscribers, average user revenue both up
China's third-largest cellular carrier, China Telecom, reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profits on the strength of attracting new subscribers and a lift gained from iPhone sales, which increased average revenue per customer due to better sales of wireless voice and data. Though net income was down from the same quarter a year ago, it beat analyst's estimates, and the company added some eight million users in the last quarter -- boosting its total base to 160.6 million subscribers.
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12/04, 12:20am
Orders taken within hours of announcement, devices ship December 14
According to a report on Sina Tech, China Unicom announced that it has received 100,000 iPhone 5 orders on its first day of preorder sales. Rival wireless operator China Telecom has been taking preorders for weeks, but began formal sales of the handset on Sunday and sold 5,000 sales of the hotly-anticipated device on its first day. The phone's ultimate release in China was announced last week, with products shipping on December 14. The new Apple phone has been available in 47 other countries, including Hong Kong and Japan, since September.
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11/29, 10:22am
Could be on sale by mid-December
China's Ministry of Industry and Technology has given approval to the iPhone 5, clearing the way for the phone's sale in the country, reports say. Filings mention WCDMA and CDMA-2000 editions, indicating that the country's current official iPhone carriers -- China Unicom and China Telecom -- will remain the only ones for the foreseeable future. The 5 is expected on sale as soon as mid-December.
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11/09, 12:41pm
Could show up as soon as late November
China Telecom will begin carrying the iPhone 5 by early December, chairman Wang Xiaochu tells the Wall Street Journal. The device is still awaiting final approval from Chinese wireless regulators, but Wang claims that Telecom will have the 5 on sale in early December if not earlier. Chang Xiaobing, the chairman of rival iPhone carrier China Unicom, is less committal. "We hope to offer it this year, but what I say doesn't matter," he remarks, referring to the wait for certifications.
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08/22, 11:37am
Profits seeing 'short-term pressure' because of high iPhone subsidies
China Telecom added 8.35 million subscribers during its second quarter, something attributed to launching the iPhone 4S in March, Bloomberg reports. Net income dropped 10 percent year-over-year from 5.05 billion yuan to 4.55 billion yuan, or $716 million. The figure did however exceed a 4.4 billion yuan median between seven analysts; Telecom says the iPhone should improve long-term growth while putting "short-term pressure" on profit margins, since it is paying high subsidies for each iPhone upfront instead of over the course of a contract.
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04/14, 4:30am
HTC T328 line exports One ideas to China
HTC has expanded its 2012 phone line by reviving the Desire name for a trio of smartphones that will land in China. Caught by ePrice, the VT T328t, VC T328d, and V T328w are closest in spirit to the One V but improve on it, carrying larger four-inch (though still 480x800) screens. All four share Android 4.0 with the new streamlined Sense 4.0 as well as a 1GHz single-core Snapdragon, a five-megapixel rear camera, 4GB of built-in space plus a microSD slot, and Beats Audio.
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03/28, 7:40am
Nokia Lumia 800C first CDMA WP7 phone in China
Nokia has announced that it as teamed exclusively with China Telecom to bring its first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets to the critical Chinese smartphone market. The first handset to lead the charge is the Lumia 800C, which is a CDMA variant of the the Lumia 800 already launched in other international markets. In addition to being the first CDMA Windows Phone in China, it will also come with additional content pre-installed and unique to the Chinese market.
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03/17, 10:35pm
Nokia Lumia 719 leaks out
A posting on China's Weibo microblogging service has helped confirm a Nokia Windows Phone that had previously only been hinted at. The Lumia 719 appears to be a cosmetic spin on the Lumia 710, with a new button layout and chin but some familiar cues. Its most notable shift might be its radio support. The post referred to China Telecom's CDMA, and China's SRRC had greenlit the device for GSM in an indication that it should be a dual-mode phone that could work with other carriers and countries.
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03/11, 11:20pm
Samsung has 24pc of China sartphones
Gartner on Sunday revealed the extent to which Apple's share of China's smartphones trailed others. Although Apple leads worldwide, it sat at 7.5 percent, or fifth place, in China's sphere. Samsung, in the lead at 24.3 percent, had over three times as much share.
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03/09, 9:40am
Demand better than expected, carrier says
Over 200,000 pre-orders were made for today's launch of the China Telecom iPhone 4S, according to MIC Gadget. Of these, more than 10,000 were placed in Beijing; over 20,000 were made in Shanghai. Telecom claims that demand for the 4S has been higher than expected.
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02/20, 8:35pm
iPhone 4S gets second Chinese carrier
China Telecom on Tuesday local time confirmed its plans to carry the iPhone 4S. The phone will be available on March 9 with preorders beginning a week earlier, on March 2. Prices will start out at free on a contract for the 16GB iPhone 4S.
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02/13, 1:40pm
Lumia 800 with CDMA due in China in March?
Nokia is working on a CDMA variant of its Lumia 800 smartphone, the 800c. The phone is due to launch on China Telecom sometime in March, WPCentral learned. It will be available in cyan, white, and black, though pricing is yet to be announced.
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01/30, 11:35pm
China Telecom may have iPhone 4S in a month
China Telecom sub-label Beijing Telecom stated Tuesday local time that a China Telecom-native iPhone 4S was expected within about a month. It said the CDMA version would "likely" reach the network by late February or early March, China Daily said. Apple's device had already been given regulatory clearance for China Telecom's network and would face few barriers.
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01/30, 10:15am
Number hinges on China Mobile compatibility
Apple will likely sign iPhone deals with both China Telecom and China Mobile "over the next year," adding up to 40 million more iPhone sales in 2013, argues Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty. The iPhone is already available on China Unicom, but Huberty suggests that the carrier can only offer Apple 10 percent of a group of about 150 million "high-end Chinese subscribers," those being people who pay more than 100RMB ($16) per month. Of that selection, about 120 million are said to be with China Mobile, and a remaining 10 percent with China Telecom.
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01/09, 11:30am
Early step towards Telecom sales of iPhone 4S
The China Radio Management agency has approved an iPhone compatible with carrier China Telecom, the Wall Street Journal reports. The device is officially identified only by a model number, A1387, but is listed as CDMA-2000 compatible. The standard is the same used by Telecom and many other CDMA carriers around the world, such as Sprint and Verizon.
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12/03, 12:45pm
Samsung W999 packs two screens and two SIMs
Samsung in a rare move for itself has brought out a unique, China-first Android phone. The W999 looks like a basic Japanese keitai clamshell but has Android 2.3 inside and a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon MSM8660 chip to give it full speed. Both the inside and outside have 3.5-inch, 480x800 Super AMOLED displays and full Android controls, letting the owner fully control Android whether it's open or closed.
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11/28, 10:35am
Motorola details two 720p-screened smartphones
Motorola recently introduced two Android 2.3 smartphones due for release in China. The XT928 and MT917 share hardware specs that are an upgrade even over recent devices, using the same 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM but with a new 4.5-inch, 1280x720 display and an upgraded 13-megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p video. There is also a 1.3-megapixel camera up front.
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11/21, 12:15pm
iPhone 4S approved in HSPA form for China
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was reported on Monday as having approved the iPhone 4S for sale in China. The HSPA 3G version of the phone has passed government tests, clearing it for sale on China Unicom. It should get a network license this week, Sina claimed.
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11/10, 12:45pm
China Telecom to bring service to the US in 2012
China's biggest fixed-line provider, China Telecom, plans to launch cellphone service in the US early next year, its Americas president Donald Tan said in an interview. He told Bloomberg the carrier will do so under its own brand and be unique in that it will offer two lines, one for the US and another for China. The ideal customer would be a Chinese-American, but it would also include students and tourists who travel often between the US and China.
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10/31, 10:45am
May have to wait until next-gen iPhone
A China Telecom iPhone will probably have to wait until 2012, says UBS' Jinjin Wang. The analyst quotes checks with value chain suppliers, which allegedly point to a launch no earlier than February or March of 2012. The phone could come out as late mid-2012, Wang suggests. If so, the timing could mean that there will be no Telecom iPhone until Apple launches a next-generation device, although that would also assume the company plans to return to a summer release schedule.
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10/24, 3:40pm
China Mobile hints rabid demand
China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou disclosed at ITU World on Monday that China Mobile had over 10 million unofficial iPhone users. He hinted that Apple hadn't reached a deal for the iPhone 4S but hadn't had problems attracting users, even with full-price unlocked devices. China Unicom is the only official Chinese carrier in the country.
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09/21, 7:35am
iPhone 5 to be unveiled Oct 4 with Cook keynoting
Apple has narrowed down its iPhone 5 introduction event to October 4, insiders detailed Wednesday. The event is understood by AllThingsD to presage the release of the new device within "a few weeks" of the appearance, most likely in the first half of October. Contacts have also had Tim Cook presiding over the event, marking the first event Cook will oversee since Steve Jobs resigned as CEO.
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09/14, 8:55am
China Telecom may go all out for iPhone 5 deal
China Telecom may have an all-out marketing campaign for its iPhone 5 launch if details given by a purported corporate insider. Referred to as the "Dragon Plan" by the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, it would see the second-largest Chinese carrier spend the equivalent of $234.6 million to market Apple's hardware. Pre-orders would start in September with the expected release in October.
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08/22, 9:10pm
iPhone 5 CDMA and GSM turns up in app tracking
Repeated references to a dual-mode iPhone 5 were borne out late Monday after a developer mentioned that it had been showing up in app logs. A small batch of users have been tracked while running two carriers. One of those seen by TechCrunch attached itself to both AT&T and Verizon, which wouldn't be possible on the current models.
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08/13, 12:25am
iPhone 5 still pegged for October
An unusually vociferous response Friday insisted that the iPhone 5 would ship in October. Digging back to "several sources" led to being told that Apple's latest would miss September. The AllThingsD clue lacked a specific unveiling date, but earlier claims it wouldn't be September 7 were purportedly accurate.
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08/03, 6:10pm
Analyst says China Telecom has sure iPhone 5 deal
Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White pointed to a possible clue that Apple had largely finalized a deal for the iPhone 5 on China Telecom. Pointing to a Sohu news post, he understood the carrier had reached a "preliminary agreement" to carry two different versions of the iPhone as early as late October. The designs would include the genuinely new iPhone as well as the cheaper iPhone 4 version to help counter low-end Android.
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07/22, 3:20pm
Verizon hints iPhone 5 in fall as China expands
Verizon COO and soon-to-be CEO Lowell McAdam during the conference call for spring results said his company was anticipating the next iPhone's launch in the fall. Although he claimed Verizon didn't know when the new model would ship, the carrier was planning for a "significant jump" in business during the fall. Verizon had anticipated a release in the summer but didn't get that.
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07/22, 10:55am
Could be first simultaneous US-Chinese launch
At least China Unicom and China Telecom will be carrying the next-generation iPhone, claims Caixin. The Chinese analysis firm quotes an unidentified source. It adds though that China Mobile -- the world's largest cellphone carrier, with over 611 million subscribers -- will not be the first in the country to sell the new device.
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07/13, 12:15am
China Telecom gets CDMA iPhone late 2011
A late-night leak Tuesday has backed China Telecom carrying the iPhone by "close" to the end of 2011. Thanks to the existence of CDMA models, the company has all the technology and just needs to complete a deal. One Reuters tip warned that Apple's often strict negotiations didn't guarantee a deal, but another had the release narrowed down to November.
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06/17, 7:35am
Motorola Droid 3 previewed in China first
Motorola's Droid 3 was given an effective full reveal through the launch of its international version in China. Called "the third Milestone" or the XT883, the Android 2.3 headliner is Motorola's first dual-core slider and uses a TI OMAP4430 chip underneath. Veteran owners get genuine functional upgrades with a four-inch, 540x960 display and a fifth keyboard row with dedicated number keys.
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05/25, 8:50am
China Unicom cuts price on iPhone rates
China Unicom president Lu Yimin told investors late Tuesday that his company had started offering an ultra low-cost iPhone plan. The 66 yuan ($10) plan was about a third cheaper than before and designed to curb moves from other carriers. Company CEO Chang Xiaobing saw a "trend" towards rival carriers offering services with unlocked iPhones, according to Bloomberg's version of events.
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05/20, 9:15am
China Telecom confirms negotiating iPhone deal
China Telecom partly put to bed rumors of a deal with Apple by acknowledging that it was in talks for the iPhone. Chairman Wang Xiaochu said his company was "in touch" for a possible deal but couldn't say how far along any deal might be. The current carrier, China Unicom, has an exclusive that ends this year.
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03/08, 12:50pm
SK Telecom confirms iPhone 4 due March 16
SK Telecom on Tuesday confirmed earlier tips and said it would carry the iPhone 4 on March 16. The Korean carrier will be just the second with an iPhone in the country. Its deal ends KT's technical exclusive for the iPhone, which was dictated mostly by its use of GSM.
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02/24, 1:40pm
SK Telecom may get CDMA iPhone 4 too
SK Telecom could get the CDMA iPhone 4 next month in what could be a significant shift in the Korean cellphone industry, according to claims from the field. The largest Korean carrier is supposedly in "final stage" talks with Apple to have the phone in March. The deal is claimed by Yonhap's contact to be "going smoothly" and all but certain to happen on time.
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02/17, 1:20pm
First hints emerge from company sources
Apple and China Telecom appear to be closer to signing an iPhone distribution deal, says Ticonderoga Securities' Brian White. The analyst points to a NetEase claim that one branch of China Telecom has started accepting pre-orders for a CDMA iPhone. He also mentions a microblog post believed to have been made by a China Telecom worker, stating that the CDMA iPhone 4 has made its "first call in China."
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01/27, 1:35pm
Device now 12 percent of all Japanese cellphones
The iPhone has had an "extraordinary" reception in Asia, "on par with the US some cases," according to analysts Toni Sacconaghi and Sanford Bernstein of Bernstein Research. The pair point to recent IDC data in particular, which indicates that the iPhone now forms 12 percent of all Japanese cellphone sales, not just smartphones. Given momentum and plans to open 20 more Chinese Apple Stores in 2011, it's inevitable that the iPhone will come to more Asian carriers, Sacconaghi argues.
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01/12, 11:05pm
Leak has CDMA iPhone beyond Verizon
The CDMA iPhone should reach beyond the Verizon model in the States to land at some of the most important Asian carriers, part suppliers may have revealed. Noting that only Foxconn-made models would go to Verizon, the insiders added that Apple's new contractor Pegatron would be making the new version for additional carriers in China, Japan and South Korea. The Digitimes claim didn't say when these countries would get the new model.
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12/27, 7:40am
iPhone Q1 production at 21m with CDMA factored in
Apple is optimistic for not just its Verizon iPhone plans in early 2011 but for its regular GSM iPhones as well, part suppliers claimed on Monday. The company reportedly plans to ship five to six million CDMA iPhones between January and March, but has also increased its production of regular iPhones from 13 million to 15 million, giving it as much as 21 million shipments. The CDMA version also wouldn't be exclusive to Verizon as Digitimes has put it shipping in the US and Asia-Pacific.
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12/06, 12:25pm
Samsung W899 gets dual Super AMOLED screens
Samsung has just announced a unique handset in China, the W899. The flip phone sports Android 2.2 but, unusually, gets dual Super AMOLED touchscreens on the flip portion. Each screen is sized at 3.3 inches and has the same 480x800 resolution.
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10/27, 10:00pm
Foxconn, Pegatron to ship 30m CDMA iPhones in 2011
(Update: more Pegatron leaks) Foxconn has been brought on to help take some of the production workload for the CDMA iPhone, industry contacts believed on Wednesday. Known in China through its parent label Hon Hai, Foxconn has reportedly been asked to share manufacturing "evenly" with the existing manufacturer Pegatron. The Taiwan Economic News suggests that Foxconn alone has been asked to make 15 million iPhones through all of 2011; by extension, as many as 30 million CDMA iPhones would be made across the two companies.
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10/20, 8:45am
CDMA iPhone 4 may need SIM for Japan and Korea
The appearance of what's claimed to be a CDMA iPhone prototype has raised the possibility that it might be a dual-mode CDMA/GSM phone. We've heard rumors to the contrary, however, and Electronista has reason to believe that Apple's handset is indeed CDMA-only. Read on to learn the relatively simple explanation and how Apple may sell the CDMA iPhone outside of the US.
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10/08, 2:50am
China Telecom talking to Apple, Qualcomm on iPhone
A Deutsche Bank analyst fueled further talk of a CDMA iPhone with word of a possible China Telecom deal in a research note reported today. "Intensive" supplier checks purportedly showed that the second-largest Chinese carrier was talking not only to Apple but to the CDMA chipset supplier, Qualcomm, to guarantee a deal, according to the South China Morning Post's copy of the note. It wasn't said how close a deal might be or whether there would be any changes to the rumored American design.
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09/23, 11:50pm
Pegatron tapped for CDMA iPhone in November
Pegatron has been identified tonight in a story as the contractor making over three million CDMA iPhones at the end of the year. The Taiwan firm would start in November and make at least three million to four million iPhones in its first three months. Production would top 10 million by mid-2011, according to DigiTimes' contacts.
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09/22, 9:20am
Analyst learns 3m CDMA iPhones enroute
Susquehanna analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro today claimed in a research note that Apple will make three million CDMA iPhones in December. Checks with Asian suppliers led him to believe the company is queuing up the large amount in anticipation of a launch in early 2011. Combined with GSM models, as many as 21 million to 22 million iPhones could be produced in the last three months of the year.
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08/30, 4:35pm
Motorola announces three Ming phones for China
Motorola on Monday officially released three new Ming-series handsets powered by Android. All are meant for the Chinese market, and include the Beihai MT810 for China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network, the Qilin XT806 for China Telecom’s CDMA network, and the Lucky A1680 for China Unicom’s WCDMA network. Each features Chinese handwriting support for their touchscreens.
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08/11, 6:45pm
iPhone 4 for Verizon gets N92 badge and more
Apple's long rumored CDMA iPhone is now more than just a skunkworks project and has a codename, tips revealed this evening. John Gruber now understands that the device is known internally as N92 and is already at the Engineer Validation Test (EVT) stage. As just a step before the Design Validation Test (DVT) stage like that of the stolen iPhone 4, its progress is appropriate for the often-rumored January Verizon launch.
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08/08, 12:00pm
Apple orders CDMA chips for iPhone in January
Apple is edging closer to a Verizon iPhone in January with a large order of CDMA chipsets, insiders reportedly said on Sunday. The company is queuing up "millions" of Qualcomm chipsets for a production run to start in December. The requests are coming early, TechCrunch said, as lead times for chips can often require months to generate enough supply, even when other components can be made more quickly.
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08/02, 11:05am
Foxconn spends 100m on dedicated iPhone factory
Foxconn is building a new factory dedicated primarily to iPhone production in what could be a sign of Apple's expansion to other US carriers, reports from China's Xinhua News Agency claimed on Monday. The plant, which will start construction later this month, will be handled by the local subsidiary Futaihua Precision Electronics and already has workers. Over 500 workers are already producing iPhones on a rented line at another factory, the media outlet said.
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07/21, 11:50am
Plans likely dependent on Verizon-capable model
China Telecom is interested in carrying the iPhone, even if it isn't a rush, claims an unnamed official from the carrier. "If we can have an iPhone, that would be good, but we'll just wait and see," the person comments. In May the company's CEO, Wang Xiaochu, said that the company might pursue the iPad in formal talks if market response proved adequate. To date over 3.27 million iPads have been sold globally.
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05/27, 5:40pm
Device would require EVDO connectivity
China Telecom is reportedly reconsidering its previous stance regarding Apple products, as CEO Wang Xiaochu suggests the company is evaluating the market response for Apple's iPad before moving forward with formal talks, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
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